Uchihaete kurushiki mono wa hitome nomi shinobu no ura no ama no takunawa - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

うちはへてくるしきものは人目のみ
しのぶの浦の海人の栲縄

Roma-ji: Uchihaete kurushiki mono wa hitome nomi shinobu no ura no ama no takunawa
English Translation: Stretched out endlessly,
what I find so hard to bear
is hiding from eyes,
like the fishers' long rope drawn
at the bay of Shinobu.
Meaning: What drags on and pains me so is only this hiding from the eyes of others, endless as the long rope the fishers draw in, hand over hand, at Shinobu Bay.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1096

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "At the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on hidden love linked to poetic places bearing the name "Shinobu." The speaker says what drags on and pains is only hiding from others' eyes, like the fishers drawing in their long ropes at Shinobu Bay. The headnote continues from the preceding poem; it was composed for the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds.
The author is Nijō-in no Sanuki, the daughter of Minamoto no Yorimasa. She served Emperor Nijō and later Gishūmon-in Ninshi, empress of Emperor Go-Toba.

The first line, "uchihaete," means "stretching on and on," and it is an associated word with the long rope stretched out in the last line.
In the second line, "kurushiki mono wa," "kurushi" holds both "kurushi," painful, and "kuru," to draw in a rope. Poem 1093 in this book also sets "kurushiki mono wa" as its second line, singing the pain of hidden love in the same construction.
The third line, "hitome nomi," means "only from others' eyes," and running on to "shinobu" in the fourth line it means "hiding only from others' eyes."
In the fourth line, "shinobu no ura no," "shinobu" holds both "shinobu," to hide from others' eyes, and the place-name Shinobu. Moving from Mount Shinobu in the preceding poems to a bay, it closes the sequence of places named "Shinobu."
The last line, "ama no takunawa," is the long rope fishers use, and the poem ends on a noun. Bound by association to "uchihae" and "kuru," the rope drawn in without end stands for the endless pain of hidden love.
Author: Nijoin no Sanuki
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kagiri areba shinobu no yama no fumoto ni mo ochiba ga ue no tsuyu zo irozuku
Next Poem: Shinobaji yo ishimazutai no tanigawa mo se o seku ni koso mizu masarikere